I apologize for posting twice the same day, but a late thought occurs to
me in connection with Christophe's question about the level of purity inside
the camp. First, it seems to me impractical if not impossible that an
elevated level of purity was maintained inside the camp. For instance, one
has soldiers spotted with blood who sleep the night in camp and only wash off
outside the camp in the morning (1QM 14:2-3), and one has those who "despoil
the fallen" (thereby incurring uncleanness) among the non-combatants (1QM
7:2-3) who remain within the camp during battle. Finally, soldiers who are
not cleansed from their 'spring' do not go out to battle, obviously remaining
behind in the camp. From all this it is apparent that the stationary camp
was at a lesser level of purity than the soldiers in the field, which was
accompanied by angels into battle.
Russell Gm.
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